Limassol

I had chosen to stay in Limassol because of its location - everywhere I wanted to go to was easily reachable.  Our hotel was on the very outskirts but there is a fantastic bus service which covers a loop from St Raphael all the way to the New Port and just goes round in circles at fifteen minute intervals.  A day pass to hop on and off the bus cost only two euros so it was very cheap - much cheaper than paying for parking in Limassol.  A real bonus was that the bus stops at Lidl near the new port so on our way home after a day in town we would just jump on the bus to Lidl, procure consumables and then go straight back for the bus to the hotel.  We had a little fridge in our room which was really good for fresh milk for tea and an ice machine on the corridor to fill the ice bucket and put a bottle of  something white in to chill.

The old town is delightful.  There is a bit of a building site in that a new marina is being built in the Old Port area so that area was very dusty and dirty but there were quiet spots everywhere.  The pavements and streets in the old town were being relaid and repaved which caused a bit of a problem at times but the area is fairly compact so it was simply a case of turning back and finding another way to where I wanted to go.

There is a central market which was a bit too clean and tidy for my liking - no chaos anywhere.  The area around the market is really interesting too, I found a lovely hardware shop and browsed for ages and there is a square with a dozen cafes opening on to it so plenty of choice for a snack or a meal.  There are caged canaries hung up all around the market square and serenading musicians with a begging tambourine in hand.  The atmosphere is very Mediterranean - which is a bit obvious to state but it simply was.

Some of the architecture is really interesting, a lovely Art Deco town hall and a Colonial style building with much wrought iron work houses part of the University.   The Cathedral is lovely and for the first time ever I went in a mosque.  I had to remove my shoes and wear an all covering robe over my clothes to go into the mosque but am really glad I did.  Limassol Castle contains an amazing collection of artefacts, including some carvings of what I think of as the Maltese Cross which were 5th century so predate the Crusaders by a good few centuries.  There are wonderful views from the top of the castle so it is well worth climbing all the stairs.

I really liked Limassol.  It is a genuine living and working town and does not close down in the off season, unlike a lot of the more popular holiday areas.

Shopping in Cyprus

We went to Cyprus with the firm intention of looking at spectacles with a view to replacing them for both of us.  From memory Cyprus was considerably cheaper than UK but since spectacle provision has much improved in England over the past thirty years we were not convinced that it would still be so.  However, the quotes in Cyprus for very stylish spectacles was around a hundred pounds cheaper for each of us so we went ahead and bought them.  They are most comfortable after a little adjustment.

The other thing that Cyprus was good for was leather goods and since I was in need of a new handbag I carefully perused all the sops wherever we happened to be.  I came across the perfect bag in Limassol and at E22 for a good quality leather bag consider it an absolute bargain.  The husband picked up a couple of good leather belts for E5 each so he was pleased too.

Cyprus

We arrived yesterday - rather later than planned due to strike action at Larnaca airport.  We breakfasted at Wetherspoons in Birmingham Airport and I noted that they are offering Eggs Benedict so opted to try that.  It was absolutely fabulous - as good as The Wolsely and rather better than many I have tried over the years.  Two muffin halves perfectly toasted, luscious juicy thickly sliced ham folded over each muffin half and then softly poached eggs covered with creamy Hollandaise sauce.  If I have a criticism it is that the accompanying rocket could have done with a bit of dressing - but that is the worst I can say.

We arrived at our hotel just after dark - we are staying at the St Raphael Resort Hotel in Limassol - and as the transfer coach stopped a porter came out with a trolley luggage and took our cases away.  Registration took only a few minutes and we were shown to our room and taught how to operate everything.  I am seriously impressed with both the hotel and the service levels.  The public rooms are quite spectacular with some wonderful art and our bedroom is spacious and comfortably appointed.  The little balcony we have looks out on to Limassol and the sea from the east so we should get nice sunshine this afternoon whilst enjoying a preprandial brandy sour.

Dinner last night was excellent, it is always a buffet but the theme changes daily so we should not get bored.  Last night I had some hoummus, olives and Greek salad as a starter.  Lovely roast lamb which had been rolled in mint with a sort of courgette casserole was the main and I ignored the quite delicious looking puddings for a plate of the local cheese.  I have never before had feta as an after dinner cheese - but I will have it again.  It went very well with the last of the wine.

This morning's breakfast buffet received Onslow's full approval.  The full gamut of bacon, eggs and sausages were available for him whilst I enjoyed a dish of gloriously thick yoghurt with fresh fruit salad followed by some toast with apricot conserve.

A wander around the leisure suite shows that there is an excellent gym, three pools, a spa, sauna and jacuzzi and I can even get a haircut or a pedicure.

All in all, much posher than we are used to!

The Yellow Submarine

We decided to take a trip to Peurto del Carmen and go on the underwater trip on the Yellow Submarine.  This was declared a brilliant success.  A coach picked us up at Rubicon and drove over some of the lunar landscape via one or two hotels collecting other people.  The scenery from the coach was fantastic, I like being up high and being able to look around and see over hedges.  My basic nosiness takes over very easily when in pastures new.

One thing that really struck me on this trip was the roundabouts.  There is very little green on the south of the island but two different colours of lava - some is rusty red coloured and some is black.  Some bright spark had designed the (very large) roundabouts most artistically using swirls of differently coloured lava to make lovely patterns.  There were odd cactuses planted here and there and some really interesting palm trees at one roundabout - they looked for all the world like a bunch of fat little pineapples with bulbous bottoms and wildly swaying fronds.

We had about an hour to wander around the port before our trip and it is very well laid out, some interesting shops and some very interesting looking restaurants.  Alas, we never had time to try the restaurants but did manage an absolutely delicious icecream.  The whole area was spotlessly clean (something I noted all over Lanzarote - it is quite the cleanest island I have ever visited), the sun was shining and it was a positive joy to walk around.  There were some pretty posh shops - the sort that never display prices so I know they are out of my price range.

The submarine trip itself was brilliant.    There is only room for about forty people on the submarine and everyone gets a seat (much more comfortable than the airline seats) and a porthole to look out and see the marine life.  The actual underwater bit takes about forty five minutes, during which we saw loads of different fish swimming around.  The submarine descends to the sea floor (which is only about a hundred feet at that place) and then toddles along, past a couple of wrecks on the bottom going along one and then turning round and coming back.  This ensures that everyone sees both sides of that particular bit of the Atlantic ocean.  The company which owns the submarine also employs a scuba diver to swim alongside the submarine clutching food fish to attract more fish to follow.  There was a massive stingray at one point, lots of barracuda and many other smaller fish.  By the portholes were charts with photographs and names to enable us to identify the different species.

My fifteen year old grand-daughter decided it was the best thing she had ever done - I call that a result.

That evening we got back to Rubicon around six thirty so decided to go out for supper and went to a Japanese restaurant.  We had a lovely seaweed salad, a miso and tofu soup, sushi, lovely fish with rice and then a sort of sweet dumpling filled with a spicy peanut thick sauce.  We thoroughly enjoyed it and both grand-daughters declared it a red letter day in their lives.

Lanzarote

I decided to take my two grand daughters to Lanzarote for half term, leaving the husband at home with his cat.  The trip did not start well because our plane was delayed for almost three hours leaving Bournemouth airport which meant that we arrived on Lanzarote in the dark and lost our first evening.  We were tired and hungry and all went to bed after a bowl of cereal.

The following morning things cheered up a bit, the weather was glorious, our accommodation comfortable and the neighbourhood on investigation proved to be very nice.  We were staying just outside Playa Blanca at The Rubicon Marina, there was a comfortable fifteen minute walk into the centre of Playa Blanca along a promenade by the sea.  The promenade had the back entrances of two or three major hotels and there was a magnificent bougainvillae hedge for a good stretch of it.  There was also a lovely beach - Lanzarote is a bit short of beaches so it was a bonus to have Playa Dorada in walking distance.  There was one of those adult outdoor gyms on this little walk too and number two grand daughter took full advantage of it.  The girls are aged 13 and 15 and Lanzarote was chosen as being a bit more lively than my usual haunts.  I was surprised at how much I liked Lanzarote, I thought I was going to be in a very obviously touristy place and instead found immense beauty and culture everywhere I looked.

Funchal

Most of the things I wanted to do and see were in Funchal so I ended up spending quite a few full days there.  The shuttle bus from our accommodation dropped and collected us from the marina area so we had the opportunity to see the cruise ships which make the island part of their itinerary.  Because the island rises out of the sea practically vertically the big ships can anchor very close to the shore so can be inspected in some detail easily without the aid of binoculars.  There was at least one ship in every single day and one day there were three.  Of the ships seen two impressed me particularly for different reasons.  The Royal Caribbean Spirit of Independence is absolutely massive.  I have never seen anything like it before and am certainly not tempted to go on it.  There are fourteen passenger decks and more than four thousand people can be carried.  Add on more than a thousand staff and we are looking at the population of the small market town in which I live.   The second ship - which might tempt me on a cruise - was German and called Aida.sol which came in twice during our visit.  They had bicycles on board and there were organised trips round the island on the bikes for about fifty people at a time.  We saw groups of ten being competently led - all properly dressed with matching helmets.  We saw groups on ordinary bicycles and some using electric ones.


I have never been particularly good at heights and foolishly was persuaded to go up to Monte and then the Botanical Gardens on the cable car.  I broke out in a cold sweat, felt physically nauseous and ended up doing the journey with my eyes closed - which helped a bit.  Although I really enjoyed both Monte and the lovely garden I was unable to return on the cable car and caught the bus back, wasting my return ticket.  The day we were at Monte one of the big ships was in and we saw 19 separate groups of fifty being led around.  A bit crowded, to say the least.

There are two rivers running through the middle of Funchal which were practically dry whilst we were there, the severe floods two years ago caused the banks to be rebuilt and they are covered in concrete with bridges across to navigate from one side to the other.  Some bright spark had the idea of stringing wires across the top and planting bougainvillae at the sides which have grown across and there is now a fabulous sight - a mass of scarlet and purple beautifully scented.


The pavements are amazing, they are made from stones in black and white and have been made into patterns.  It is really interesting to simply walk around looking at them - the ones in front of the theatre are works of art.  Thinking about it, Funchal is one big work of art.  The architecture is amazing, the Bank of Portugal has most impressive wrought iron everywhere, the Blandy Wine Lodge is beautifully maintained with original shutters, the theatre is lovely and the municipal buildings really interesting.  I had intended to go to Reid's for afternoon tea but never managed it, our trip on the open top bus enabled me to look over the walls though and I would really have loved to have gone there.


 v

Madeira Churches

One of my passions is ecclesiastical architecture and having never been to anywhere Portuguese before I had high expectations which were not disappointed.  Funchal has two of the major churches of the island which are beautifully decorated.  The Cathedral looks quite small from the outside but on entering seems to be about three times the size of initial perception.   The second major church is that of the Jesuit College which is astonishingly filled with gilt and art.  The Stations of the Cross there were bronze casts which had a vagueley Art Deco style to them and there are altars all around the walls.  Well worth a visit.

We took the cable car up to Monte to see the church there which was quite an experience.  I am not awfully good at heights and ended up returning via the bus and not using my return ticket.  I broke out into a cold sweat and felt very nauseous - even with my eyes closed.  The church itselt was lovely though, it is at the top of a massive flight of steps and pilgrims climb them on their knees as an act of faith.

We hired a taxi for a whole day to see more of the island and went to the north coast to Sao Vicente and the church dedicated to St Vincent there was extremely pretty.  Quite small but filled with colour and a very peaceful atmosphere.

Funchal has a museum dedicated to sacred art which was well worth the entrance charge.  All the artefacts and paintings have come from all over the island as churches have closed and placed in a central gallery opposite the Jesuit College.  There was some amazing filigree silver gilt exhibited, a particularly beautiful chalice comes to mind.  There were also some astonishing beds there - one depicting the last supper with Jesus and the Disciples on the bed head and a snarling looking Judas on the foot clutching a coin bag.